Currently, flexible pipe that can accommodate fluids at relatively high pressures (e.g. for use in the oil and gas industry) is typically coiled on reels (after manufacture), stored on reels, shipped on reels, and many times deployed directly from reels. A conventional reel 2 is illustrated in FIGS. 1A-1C, which includes a cylindrical drum 4 (about which the flexible pipe 6 is wound), and flanges 8 extending from the edges of the drum to retain the pipe wound around the drum 4. A conventional reel loaded with flexible pipe is illustrated in FIG. 1D.
Typically, pipe suppliers must have a large fleet of reels to handle pipe production and shipping processes, which can be costly. In addition, shipping pipe on reels incurs larger shipping costs, as there are weight limits on shipments on trucks. With a double drop trailer (which is normally used), a truck can pull a load that is roughly 38,000 lb. Two reels of flexible pipe for the oil/gas industry are all that can fit onto a double drop trailer. The reels themselves can weigh approximately 3200 lb each. Thus, only about 31,600 lb of pipe can be shipped on a single truck.
Once reels of pipe are shipped out to customers, the customers typically have to rent the reels in their possession (i.e. until the pipe thereon is deployed). Once the customer has deployed the pipe, the empty reels (which are expensive) must be shipped back to the pipe supplier, incurring additional shipping costs. Additional costs are further incurred to maintain the reels.
There is a need for a more economical solution in deploying coils of pipe without the expense and other drawbacks of conventional reels.